Siege of Carthage

This grisly standoff came as part of the Third Punic War, the last in a series of notoriously violent clashes between the ancient Romans and the Phoenician city of Carthage. In 149 B.C., a Roman army led by Scipio Aemilianus arrived in North Africa intent on destroying Carthage once and for all. Met by 60-foot walls, the Romans cordoned off the city, set up camp and laid siege.

The Carthaginians had prepared for the invasion by turning most of their city into an armory and enlisting slaves and civilians into the military. According to the ancient historian Appian, the women of Carthage even cut off their hair so it could be used as rope for makeshift catapults. Faced with this level of resistance, the Romans were held at bay for three long years. When they finally breached the walls in 146 B.C., Scipio’s forces had to fight their way through the city streets for six days and nights before defeating the Carthaginian resistance. By the time the battle had ended, the 700-year old city of Carthage lay in ruins and its remaining 50,000 inhabitants had been sold into slavery.